The significant advances in high-speed data networks and cost reductions in the area of bandwidth availability have provided technical challenges. Many of the same data protection, analysis, filter, evaluation and monitoring problems that existed with lower speed networks have been exacerbated with the data rates of modern high-speed networks. Widespread availability of inexpensive, always-on broadband Internet connections have generated an enormous rise in the need for data protection.
The difficulty of deploying legacy, software-based protection and management applications has escalated from being difficult to almost impossible. Even ASIC-based routers and switches have been unable to implement multiple Access Control Lists (“ACLs”) without quickly degrading network performance.
Existing switches, routers, firewalls and other systems have failed to perform at current or projected bandwidth requirements. Switches and routers are expensive, have long development cycles and lack flexibility. Current network appliances, being CPU based, are slow and not scaleable. Software solutions are incapable of meeting the speed requirements and are not easily configurable to requirements.
For this reason, a need exists for an improved content intelligent network appliance that overcomes the disadvantages of prior systems and provides the capabilities to monitor and extract information from modern high-speed data networks.